


1958

by Emma_Oz



Category: The Lost Prince - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Genre: Gen, Post-World War II, What Happened Next
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 19:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5509484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_Oz/pseuds/Emma_Oz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There have been a lot of changes between 1915 and 1958, but Marco and the Rat are still doing good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1958

**Author's Note:**

  * For [busaikko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/busaikko/gifts).



> This story is set in the 1950s, in a universe in which after World War II, Marco abdicated in order for his son to accede under a constitutional monarchy. I know the novel is all about how fabulous it is for a country to have a king, but I like to think that Marco would have the sense to see that a democracy would be a better model.
> 
> I like to think that Marco and Rat spent some time helping establish the UN. By the 1950s they are working on a UN sponsored program to eradicate polio in Samavia.
> 
> In real life, Jonas Salk came up with a vaccine in the early 1950s and widespread vaccination programs were in place by the late 1950s, even in communist areas.
> 
> Despite its presumed location in the Balkans, I like to think that Samavia escaped Soviet expansion through Rat’s clever politicking with the USA. After all, if he could convince a group of street kids to follow him when he couldn’t even walk, he could pretty much negotiate any deal.

Marco looked over the thriving plains of Samavia. The wheat was golden under an endless blue sky. Samavia was as beautiful as when he had first seen it. He turned to Rat, ‘If we head north east, we should reach the next village by mid-afternoon.’

Rat smiled. ‘And a good thing too.’

Marco’s eyes dipped to the cane Rat used all the time now. Rat noticed and went on. ‘I used to resent my crooked back and twisted leg, I hated my body so much, but now I see that was meant to be.’

Marco began to walk alongside this friend, without thought adjusting his pace so they fitted. ‘In what way?’ he asked.

‘Because people listen when I tell them about the cure for polio,’ Rat said. ‘Mothers look at me and they are afraid their children will become like me. So they listen when I tell them about the vaccination program.’

Marco’s eyes flashed. ‘People listen to you because you command respect,’ he said, ‘You always have.’

Rat smiled, ‘As do you, your Highness.’

Marco shook his head.

‘I know you abdicated for the good of Samavia. But that has made you all the more respected. Have you not noticed how people look at you?’ he said fondly, ‘I suppose it is the same way they have always looked at you.’

Marco blushed. ‘I think they admire you as well, old friend.’

Rat laughed, ‘Perhaps.’ He honoured Marco for his inability to see that in court circles he was respected as an intimate of the king and admired as a wily statesman, but he had never been fully accepted. To most outside the highest levels of Government he was merely the king’s shadow, always in the background when Marco had lead the way during the depression and the war.

‘But they also listen when I tell them to vaccinate their children, because they do not want their children to look like me. I got my injuries when my brute of a father knocked me downstairs when I was a baby, but still…. Finally, finally these wounds are useful. They convince people.’

Marco seized his hand. ‘Do you remember Saint Ignatius the wise?’ he asked. ‘You are like him.’

‘A father of the Samavian church?’ laughed Rat. ‘Do you see a halo?’

Marco looked him fin the eye. ‘I see a stigmata, a sign of your suffering for a higher purpose.’

He flung his arm around Rat’s neck. ‘Onward,’ he said, ‘To light the lamp.’


End file.
